Sunday, September 12, 2010

Driven by Kale

For me it’s often one ingredient that compels me to find a recipe. This week it’s the curly-leafed kale we got in our CSA share. I’ve made kale in a lot of ways that I liked and some I wasn’t quite so fond of, but I cast my lot with Google in my recipe search.

Many of the recipes seemed to pair kale with cannellini beans, those white beans that make one think of a warm, Italian kitchen. When I went to Whole Foods last night in search of the other ingredients for the recipe I had decided on, I could find only cans of cannellini beans. But then I spied a package of white kidney beans that looked quite similar and hoped they would work. (A Google search back home confirmed that cannellini beans are indeed also called white kidney beans.) For some reason I prefer to soak my beans overnight and cook them myself instead of opening a can.

Here’s the recipe I’ve chosen, already deciding to add to it a couple of chopped carrots, a few tiny red peppers (the hot ones), and the sausage and pepperoni from last night’s leftover pizza slices (realizing it can no longer be called vegetarian!):

Vegetarian Kale Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves chopped

8 cups water

6 cubes vegetable bouillon (such as Knorr)

1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes

6 white potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans (drained if desired)

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

2 tablespoons dried parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot; cook the onion and garlic until soft. Stir in the kale and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Stir in the water, vegetable bouillon, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, Italian seasoning, and parsley. Simmer soup on medium heat for 25 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.